In many shops or stores where food products are sold, customers may themselves pick food products from containers or boxes and possibly also place the food products in wrappings/packages themselves. Such wrappings or packages may be, for example, bags that are provided by the store or that the customers themselves have brought. Especially in connection with sales of sweets/candies, it is frequently so that the goods are sold in bulk in such in such a way that the customers themselves may pick the quantity they wish to purchase and put it in a bag. The store usually provides scoops, spoons or other tools by means of which the customer can take the sweets/candies from their box to put them in a bag. The sweets/candies will then lie exposed in the box such that it is available to the customers. Such an exposure of sweets may be unsuitable for hygienic reasons. For example, some customers may choose to take the sweets with their hands instead of using a scoop or spoon. Some customers may even put back sweets that they have touched with their hands. Moreover, customers that suffer from infections of the respiratory passages may breathe or cough on the sweets as they bend over the boxes/containers where the sweets or candies are placed. It should be understood that this problem is not restricted to sweets and candies but may also concern other food products that are sold in bulk, for example beans, lentils or nuts.
To solve this problem, solutions have been proposed in which bulk candy is placed in a container and where dispensing of the candies is achieved by means of a screw or some other mechanism and the bulk candy is protected from direct exposure until it has been fed out from the container.
In some cases, it may also be a problem that separate pieces of granular foodstuff stick together to form large lumps. This may in particular be a problem in the case of bulk candy.
WO 97/08977 discloses a dispenser for sweets that comprises a container from which sweets can be fed out by means of a feed screw that can be caused to rotate. Rotation of the screw forces sweets in the lower part of the container through a channel and out to a receiver part.
GB 2218410 A discloses a dispensing device for a foodstuff that comprises a container with a V-shaped bottom. In the lower part of the container, there is an auger that can be rotated by means of a motor. When the auger turns, the foodstuff is fed along the bottom of the container towards a nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,257 discloses a device for dispensing food stuffs from a container. The device comprises a cylindrical container and a rake with a handle. By means of the handle, the rake can be moved along a longitudinal axis of the container such that food stuffs within the container are caused to move towards a dispensing opening.
US 2007/0080175 A1 discloses a system in which candy inside a container can be caused to move towards an exit area by means of a rake that can be operated from the exterior of the container.
In the above mentioned solutions, it may happen that a granular food product (for example a candy) is damaged during dispensing such that the consumer gets a damaged product. When certain kinds of granular food stuffs are broken/smashed, this can also lead to remnants of the pieces getting stuck on the walls of the container which may cause hygienic problems. This may be the case when the granular food stuff is constituted by, for example, pieces of chocolate.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device which not only protects the foodstuff from exposure and allows dispensing, but which also reduces the risk that the granular foodstuff is damaged during dispensing.
Another object is to provide a device that may reduce the risk that separate pieces of granular foodstuff stick together to form lumps.
It is also an object of the present invention to make it possible to refill such dispensing devices in a way that is quick and rational.